REVIEW: Lucio Fulci’s ‘Voices From Beyond’ from Severin
Image courtesy of Severin Films / Provided with permission.
The cult of Lucio Fulci is ravenous. Horror fans have flocked to the Italian maestro’s oeuvre for decades, with his bloody flicks still populating drive-ins and repertory houses around the world. One of his lesser-known projects is Voices From Beyond, his penultimate film and one that will likely attract the attention of Fulci completists. Severin Films has recently released the movie on UHD, for the first time ever.
The three-disc set from Severin features the UHD and Blu-ray formats, plus a soundtrack CD. That soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani is one of the strongest parts of the thriller.
There’s also a host of accompanying featurettes, including About Death, which is an audio interview with Fulci himself; Beyond the Living, an interview with actor Pascal Persiano; A House for the Dead, an interview with set designer Antonello Geleng; Like a Father, an interview with prop master Vincenzo Luzzi; and Lucio’s Last Wave, an interview with author Stephen Thrower, who penned Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci.
The movie is enjoyable, albeit odd. It fits nicely in the giallo genre, more than the horror genre — meaning it’s more of a thrill-ride than a scare-fest. The plot surrounds the bloody death of a prominent man who has a lot of money left in his estate, and like an Agatha Christie mystery, there’s a dash to figure out which of his heirs might be responsible for the murder. This being a Fulci film, there’s always the chance that nothing is what it seems.
The cast includes everyone from Persiano to Karina Huff to Lorenzo Flaherty, with all of them featuring serious genre cred. Pino Ferranti, known for Cannibal Ferox, is responsible for the gore effects, although Voices From Beyond is not the gore-fest that earlier Fulci films tend to be.
Voices From Beyond does not exactly stand up to the greatest of Fulci films. There’s no beating Zombie, The Gates of Hell, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery, but Voices From Beyond is definitely worth a watch. The 1991 movie runs a quick 91 minutes and should experienced with the rest of the filmography from this genre maestro.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Voices From Beyond, directed by Lucio Fulci, runs 91 minutes and has recently been released by Severin Films on UHD/Blu-ray. Click here for more information.
